Rosa
by DiamondDweller
Summary: -AU- Fiesty Mitchie Torres is attending an auction in London to procure a very special painting. Little does she know she will be outbid by handsome but arrogant millionare Shane Gray - Smitchie -
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! This is my first short story; I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing. And nope I do not own Shane and Mitchie; my only dream has been crushed. :(**

**Buuuhtt **

**I'm gonna stop sulking and gonna let you read. :)**

**Rosa – Chapter One**

No! No! No!

Although she hadn't articulated the words out loud, they echoed in Mitchie Torres's brain like cannon fire.

When the auctioneers gavel finally came down on the bid, she stared down at the wooden paddle in her hand in trembling disbelief. While the murmur of voices around her grew into a virtual crescendo of approval for the successful bidder, Mitchie was filled with disappointment and sorrow as she contemplated her failure at not achieving the goal.

The whole reason she was in this intimidating London auction house was to procure a particular painting on behalf of her ailing elderly employer. Godfrey would be heartbroken that she hadn't succeeded. Mitchie hardly knew how she was going to break the news. The exquisite portrait that his childhood sweetheart had so adored meant so much to him. It had always hung in the hallway of his family's Georgian mansion – until the Baillon clan had fallen into hard times and had to sell it.

When Godfrey had heard that it was up for auction after all this time, he had almost been beside himself with excitement. It was practically the first instance in three whole years since Mitchie had started working for him as a companion and housekeeper that she had seen him so animated. And now he had been robbed of his joy by the smug-looking individual who had easily outbid Mitchie. A man who – judging by his immaculately tailored suit, glinting gold handcuffs and arrogantly handsome profile – clearly had money to burn.

Mitchie hadn't had a cat's chance in hell of outbidding him. As it was, Godfrey had sold practically everything valuable he owned to raise the funds for the painting. As she turned to regard the man that had outbid her, their gazes collided and for a long breathless moment, Mitchie found herself trapped by his almost taunting, brown-eyed gaze. Disturbed by the totally inappropriate heat that his glance had wrought inside her, Mitchie forced herself to concentrate. What if she spoke to him? Her mind raced feverishly? What if she could tell him just how much the portrait, Rosa meant to Godfrey? How it had been in his family for generations, and how it would bring him such pleasure to be able to have it back where it belonged?

People around her were moving and the auction clearly was at an end. Rising shakily to her feet and leaving the paddle on the plush velvet seat pad, Mitchie saw with alarm that the man that had brought the portrait was leaving too.

Tall and broad-shouldered, something about him suggested a strong belief in his own superiority and that immediately rankled her. He just seemed too self-satisfied for words. Probably because he'd been able to purchase the painting and she hadn't.

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

Once again that un-settling brown-eyed glance locked with hers and Mitchie couldn't help but think that diamonds would not glint with such impenetrably hard sheen. His haughty gaze would have repelled royalty! Garnering all the her courage and thinking of only Godfrey's heartfelt disappointment, Mitchie reached out and touched the sleeve of his flawlessly tailored jacket.

"Might I have a word with you?" she began, quickly withdrawing her hand when he looked down at it almost distastefully.

"What about?" the man gave her a thorough once-over and Mitchie quickly squirmed in her slightly small burgundy suit, which she'd borrowed from her cousin Sierra. She tried to hear herself think over the roar of her heartbeat. Refusing to be diminished by the arrogant assessment of her "assets" that she'd seen reflected in that belittling gaze, Mitchie let her dislike of man override any nerves she might have.

"I need to talk to you about the portrait you've just bought,"

"You lost the bid Ms –"

"Torres."

"You lost the bid Ms Torres, and I'm sorry if that is disappointing for you but I outbid you fair and square. As far as I'm concerned there's nothing to be said."

As he began to turn his back on her, Mitchie touched his sleeve again. He considered her as though astounded that she had the temerity.

"What is it this time Ms Torres?"

"Perhaps I could buy you a coffee and we could talk?"

"I'm sorry… this may be hard for you to hear, but pretty as you undoubtedly are – you really aren't my type."

Appalled at his deliberate of her understanding to buy him coffee, Mitchie felt outraged heats suffuse her cheeks.

"I wasn't trying to proposition you!"

A woman brushing past her in a waft of Dior perfume smirked and Mitchie glared back. Directing her attention back to the man she was talking to, she continued passionately, "you know perfectly well I wanted to talk about the painting! I wanted to ask you to please consider selling it to someone who has been searching it for years – the man I work for – Godfrey Baillon."

"Once again I find myself in the position of having to disappoint you, Ms Torres. Now, I have to go and sign some documentation before making my way to another appointment in Kensington, so my answer has to be an unequivocal no. please do not try and delay me because quite frankly, you are wasting you are wasting your time and mine!"

"What if I told you that my employer is ill? That buying this painting would go a long way to speeding up his recovery?"

The man smiled and even though they made his ruthlessly handsome features even more devastating than they already were, Mitchie couldn't conclude that a cat playing with a mouse would not taunt so cruelly. He hardly needed to utter a single word to let her know that he was mocking her. When he did speak, she was left in no doubt.

"Then I would say I think that you are a very devoted employee if you would resort to emotional blackmail to get me to sell you back the portrait. Unfortunately I am impervious to that sort of sentimental plea-bargaining. I did not get to where I am today by being a pushover. Learn how to be a good loser, Miss Torres that is my advice to you. Goodbye."

Learn how to be a good loser? Mitchie almost glanced around to find something handy to throw at him…preferably something heavy. But two seconds later he was gone, moving purposefully through the well-healed clutch of interested buyers that had attended the auction with arrogant ease, his mind clearly on his next appointment and having already dismissed the hazel-eyed, rather "desperate" brunette.

She turned away in frustration to see an official collecting the wooden paddles that people had left on their seats.

"Excuse me… do you know the name of the man I was just talking to? The man that made the winning bid on the last portrait?"

"Yes miss," the elderly official smiled courteously. "That's Mr. Shane Gray. His business supplies cars and property to visiting dignitaries from abroad. A real connoisseur of art he is, too, by all accounts."

"Thank you."

So the man clearly owned several desirable paintings. Why should it matter if he sold one to Godfrey? And one that held so much poignant meaning for her employer? It really wasn't fair!

But even as she took umbrage at Shane Gray's rather callous dismissal of Godfrey's understandably great desire to repossess the portrait, Mitchie was already making concocting plans to make a dent in that hard bitten armor of his and win him around.

**End of chapter one, there is seven more left.**

**Shane told Mitchie to learn to be a good loser. ;)**

**Why do you think Shane is refusing to sell the portrait?**

**Please review, and follow me on my FF twitter**

**Diamond Dweller**

**I'm just new. :)**

**Love, Bella**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the wonderful reviews. :)**

**I'm back with chapter too**

**R&R!**

**Rosa – Chapter 2**

"Godfrey? It's Mitchie. Things didn't go too well at the auction I'm afraid and someone outbid me on the portrait." She held her breath imagining her employers devastated face and she couldn't help grimacing in dismay as she held her mobile to her ear.

The waitress in the coffee shop placed the café latte she'd ordered on the table, and Mitchie indicated her thanks in a brief smile.

Godfrey Baillon sighed heavily at the end of the other line, a wealth of pain and disappointment in it. He'd been pinning all his hopes on Mitchie successfully bidding for Rosa, the exquisite portrait that had hung in his family's residence for years until they'd had to sell it. Mitchie would have done anything to avoid giving him the bad news about it, especially when he was so ill.

"I suppose they offered a small fortune?"

Mitchie picked up a spoon and stirred the froth on her coffee. An all too vivid picture of Shane Grays lean mocking face slid into her mind and a burn of dislike simmered in her stomach. She was still smarting from the sardonic rebuff she'd received when she'd asked him if he'd consider selling the painting back to Godfrey.

"But listen… don't be downhearted. We're not beaten yet! I found the name of the chap who bought it and I'm going to track him down and try to talk him into selling it to us. With that in mind, I wondered if it would be okay if I stayed in London a couple of days. He works in the city and I could stay at my cousin Sierra's place while I'm here."

"Mitchie, my dear, I appreciate your royalty I really do but I certainly don't want you confronting this man and possibly getting upset on my behalf! Why don't you just get the next train and come back home?"

He was such a dear sweet man with a kind heart and Shane Gray – despite his too confident looks and comfortable bank balance – wasn't fit to shine in his shoes in Mitchie's opinion. She began to secretly warm to her task. She'd win back Rosa if it were the last thing she did!

"Honestly, I'll be fine! This is too important to just give up on, Godfrey. Give me a chance to tell him what this picture means to you – I'm sure he'll come around. In the mean time, I'll ring Violet at the nursing home and ask her to pop in and check on you while I'm gone."

"Well…."

Hearing the hesitation in her employer's tone, Mitchie pressed up to her advantage. "Please Godfrey – nothing ventured, nothing gained, remember?"

"Just make sure you take care of yourself and get back here safely on Friday, that's all I ask for my dear – and keep in touch!"

"I will".

Mitchie spooned some of the creamy froth from her coffee into her mouth and tried to convince herself she wasn't completely mad to even imagine that she could persuade a ruthless man like Shane gray to sell a much-wanted prized possession!

**Rosa**

He'd been dreaming about Rosa – the gypsy girl in the painting – and had woken rather abruptly when the face of that Torres girl, who had been so persistent in trying to corner him at the auction house, disturbingly took her place. For a moment or two Shane Gray just lay in bed recalling her glinting hazel eyes and that mane of pre-Raphaelite brown hair that kept threatening to unravel from its clip. A flash of unwelcome heat shook him out of his temporary reverie and made him throw back the duvet angrily.

Troublesome woman! She had real nerve trying to entreat him to sell the picture when he'd only just bought it! Did she imagine for one second that he would even consider it? Let alone drop the asking price back down to one her employer could afford!

The painting was important to him because it had been important to his mother. Now that he had it in his possession, Shane was in no hurry to be disposed of it…no matter how beguilingly her hazel eyes glinted!

As Shane stepped out of his Rolls Royce later that morning, His chauffeur Adam handed him his daily copy of the Times newspaper. Glancing up at the rather grand Edwardian building that housed his company's offices, Shane smiled with satisfaction.

He had traversed a long road from poverty to wealth and all the sacrifices he had had to make along the way had been worth it. So what if he had a reputation as a rather cold fish? God knew there were enough warm blooded women clamoring for his attentions to make the tag bearable. And if he didn't believe in "falling in love" or having just one woman in his life to wake up with each morning – then his wealth bought him many enviable compensations, such as the ability to buy Rosa, a portrait that was clearly coveted by many.

"Good morning!"

He turned at the sound of the familiar voice, all the hairs on the back of his neck bristling. "What the - ?"

He couldn't believe she was smiling at him…smiling for God's sake!"

"And how are you today, Mr. Gray?"

Her use of his voice took him aback a moment. Swallowing hard, Shane frowned a warning.

"I don't have time to converse with you, Miss Torres. What the hell do you mean by tracking me down at my place of work?"

He knew he sounded ridiculously pompous, but he was furious she had the brass nerve to seek him out again! Yet seeing her smile waver, he experienced a kick of something like regret in the pit of his stomach.

The woman pushed back the wayward hair that was again threatening to break loose from whatever feminine frippery held in behind her head and her slender shoulders lifted in a slightly uncertain shrug beneath her short black coat.

"We got off to a bad start yesterday and I wanted to apologize. I – I shouldn't have approached you like I did when you were still enjoying your triumph of buying the painting. Will you accept my apology?"

Was she earnest? Obviously not! A flash of impatience assailed him and Shane's face hardened. Of course the woman was in earnest! She had a very real and all too transparent ulterior motive for seeking him out again and he should make it clear to her that once and for all he was on to her little scam – despite that glimpse of uncertainty he'd seen at the end of her smile.

"All right, Miss Torres… I accept your "apology", but let this be the last time you harass me in the street, understood?"

"Harass you?" The fire in her offended hazel eyes was back – glinting gold and fuelling an entirely reluctant heat inside Shane that both amazed and confounded him. He'd meant it when he told her at the auction that she wasn't his type!

"Just because I find myself needing to have a conversation with you doesn't mean I'm harassing you! What am I supposed to do to get to talk to you? Make an appointment?"

"Got it in one, Miss Torres."

Presenting his back to Mitchie, Shane walked through the revolving doors of the building and disappeared inside.

"Make an appointment?" Her lips split into a wide, mischievous grin. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

**Let's just say reviews make me REALLY happy! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Wow! Thank you so much for all the feedback. You lots are fabulous! Hope this chapter is what you're expecting!**_

_**This chapter is dedicated to MissPerfectlyUniQue for her birthday! Happy belated birthday Your Majesty =p**_

_**See yah at the bottom!**_

Shane Gray must have known Mitchie hadn't a hope in Hades of getting an appointment with him for at least the next three months. The man clearly had a work schedule to match the queen of England's! What infuriated Mitchie was that he suggested it so smugly, just to build up her hopes!

Well if he thought that was going to deter her from trying to persuade him to sell her back the portrait of Rosa – then he had another think coming!

Mitchie had gone back to her cousin Sierras place and racked her brains to come up with another strategy. "Why don't you try good old-fashioned womanly wiles?'" Sierra had suggested. "He's a man isn't he? Doesn't matter who he is or how much money he has, He won't be immune. Trust me."

And so, at just past five thirty in the afternoon when most offices were turning out, Mitchie waited nervously in the lobby Shane's building in full make-up, a tight she-means-business black dress, killer heals, and a generous spritz of French perfume.

Idly picking up a magazine, she barely registered the emaciated the fashion models wearing the latest designs from the catwalk – her nerves were so strung out at the thought of what Shane's reaction would be when he saw her again. But no matter how uncomfortable her current get-up was – Mitchie was usually a passionate devotee of casual jeans and T-shirts – she would be willing to endure any amount of discomfort if it meant getting Shane to relent his decision over the portrait.

Her employer, Godfrey would be over the moon if she could pull this off and perhaps when he had the painting once more in his possession, where it clearly belonged, his health would get back on track, too.

The elevator doors swished opened and four or five people emerged onto the plush maroon carpet in the reception. Straining to examine their faces, her heart almost jumped out of her chest when she finally settled on Shane's handsome, pre-occupied features. Mitchie took a deep breath and slowly pushed to her feet.

"Hi,"

Although she was striving for calm and composed, her insides were leaping like a snow globe that had been shaken too hard. His compelling brown eyes looked astonished at first, then frosty. Watching them skim up and down her uncharacteristically glamorous attire, Mitchie had to secretly admit she had gone for Sierras suggestion of "feminine bombardment" because – for a moment – she'd allowed herself to feel desperate. Now she wished she had given herself more time to think of something else.

"Well, well, well…"

Briefly waiting for the other people who'd shared the elevator ride with him to disperse, Shane considered Mitchie with an ill-disguised expression.

"Didn't I tell you that you had to make an appointment to see me, Ms Torres?" he snapped,

His teeth were very even and his nose aquiline – almost sharp. He had a very precise clean-cut jaw and his brown eyes had the same glitter as diamonds being washed in a crystal fountain. Up close he was so devastated to look at that Mitchie almost wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of standing so near such a man. She'd already detected the suggestion of hard toned muscle beneath his tailoring and it just about finished her off.

"Yes, you told me that Mr. Gray… but you also must have known it was practically nigh on impossible to get an appointment with you! Unless of course, I was Prince Charles or the Sultan of Brunei! Which I clearly am not."

There was another flicker of sardonic amusement in Shane's disturbing gaze. "You're perfectly right, Ms Torres – only a lunatic could mistake you for anything other than extremely feminine and distracting you are!"

She was dumbstruck by the compliment, then completely undone by the deliberately sexual way he allowed his glance to roam over her body. Mitchie sensed her breasts grow heavy inside her close fitting finery.

"All dressed up and nowhere to go, Ms Torres? Or were you just popping in to see if you could catch me off-chance? Somehow I don't believe that you're a woman who leaves very much to chance. If you've come to proposition me about the painting again then I have to tell you that you are wasting your time. If, on the other hand, you would care to join me for a drink…then I wouldn't exactly be averse to such a prospect."

Shane could hardly believe how he was acting towards his won. He was perfectly aware that she had no interest in him other than his possession of the portrait – but even though he knew that, he couldn't help but crave her company.

Her luscious body in those sexy clothes was bait enough for a man who had an admittedly high sexual drive – but besides that, the woman had started to get to him. He didn't know why, but what harm would it do to encourage her a little, he asked himself? Tonight he was going home to an empty house and a microwaved supper, and deliberating between that and those rather ravishing eyes of hers… well, there really was no contest.

"A drink?"

Shane could see that his invitation flustered her and he couldn't deny the feeling of truly pure male satisfaction.

"Yes Ms Torres…. What is your name, for pity's sake? I can't keep calling you "Ms. Torres" all night!"

"It's Mitchie"

"It suits you. Shall we go?"

He put his hand beneath her elbow and was surprised to see her hesitate. Shane sighed, "I suppose now you're going to tell me you have a boyfriend or husband waiting for you at home…is that it?"

That wasn't it, because Mitchie had neither. She hadn't dated in quite a while because she'd been so involved with looking after Godfrey that entailed. Sad…but true. She'd hesitated because she really hadn't expected him to suddenly let down his guard so exclusively and invite her for a drink!

He was a wealthy, drop-dead gorgeous business man and she was just a simple, uncomplicated girl from the wilds of Dartmoor. She'd never craved London life the way Sierra had and was happiest when tramping across fields and hills, the wind in her hair and the sun at her back. There wasn't a sophisticated bone in her entire body! Even Godfrey had teased her about being a dyed-in-the-wool country lass!

"No," she finally answered him and saw the sudden tension in his jaw visibly relax. "I'm single. Look Mr. Gray –"

"Shane,"

That took her aback. "I can't pretend to you that I won't want to discuss the painting and I think you know that."

"You can discuss the painting to your heart's content, Mitchie, but it won't do you a bit of good…I won't be swayed. Even if the sight of you in that rather obvious little outfit is testing my self-restraint to the maximum!"

Assimilating his outrageous compliment with a racing heart, Mitchie stared at him in complete disbelief. "What?"

Shane's answering smile was lethal….

**I leave you there,**

**So know why don't you do me a huge favor and leave me a review. It makes me really happy and want to update**

**Xoxo- Bella**


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